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In our previous post, we talked about the importance of engaging millennials at work. This time we will uncover the 5 top secrets for running a sales contest that leads to a record-breaking month for revenues. Ready to find out how to motivate your sales team?

Sales contests are a powerful tool to motivate young people both individually and as a team. Just like we pointed out in our last post, millennials are known for being the talent that’s trickiest to retain in the workplace because they are unlike any of the generations that have come before them.

So, when it comes to making these energetic and autonomous professionals compete with each other, especially in very stressful sales environments, every input counts.

At CRMGamified, we live off of the challenge of trying exciting, new ways to implement gamification that help your company’s sales reach the next level. That’s why we won’t be shy in this post when it comes to sharing our best advice stemming from our several years of experience and trial-and-error.

Ready to ignite the motivations of your sales teams, including those of your millennial hires? Here are our 5 top sales contest secrets you need to know before even thinking about implementing this gamification tactic in your department:

Remember the importance of being visual

Recognition, incentives and coaching are usually the three main things that come to mind when you think of sales contests. If you want to achieve good results in all three by using this powerful tool, you need to keep in mind the importance of being visual.

What do we mean by that?

Well, it’s proven that contests are most effective when the team is able to actually see the progress it’s making right in front of their eyes. For example, our Hurrah! Leaderboards helps to view the changing statistics in real time in a fun and innovative way, which works as a terrific incentive, both for competing and collaborating.

Technology is your main ally

Following up with the previous point, there’s hardly any other more effective way to catch the millennial’s eye than through technology. Practically born with smartphones in their hands, millennials are accustomed to engaging with multiple screens at the same time.

With an extremely easy to use and highly customizable interface, Hurrah! Leaderboards is sure to take your CRM experience to the next level by showcasing rankings and metrics, or playing music, announcements or videos to liven up the work day on tv screens and/or individual computers.

Don’t be afraid to break the mold by bringing the techie millennial spirit into play!

Set the right goals and incentives

It’s human nature to try to improve. However, in order to do so, you have to have a clear picture of what you really want to achieve. Not only is this true in life, but the same goes in sales. Therefore, it is essential for your sales team to have outlined goals as well as incentives.

And, we are not just talking about money. In fact, for the millennial generation, working is not just a mere obligation nor a social mandate. When it comes to their professional lives, millennials are looking to have a rich experience that is not only rewarding, but meaningful, challenging, and flexible.

Keep this in mind when you think of what kind of incentives you are going to put in place during the contest. Remember that a day of vacation or even a free licence to get creative during office hours are highly appreciated.

Finally, don’t forget that contests have to be implemented with a clear communication strategy. This means not only being able to set the rules and make sure they are followed, but to listen carefully to all the feedback given by the sales team during the process.

Not everything is about volume

Don’t get us wrong. Volume is important when we talk about sales and productivity in general. However, it’s a common mistake to think that every competition has to be about volume. Within your industry, it’s very likely that there are a few big players you’d love to have as clients. Getting their attention is one big goal that can be turned into a contest.

More so, you can also think of a way to encourage better customer service through special rewards and prizes.

Never forget the importance of having a way to survey your customers, either after they’ve completed a purchase, or periodically, according to your needs.

Don’t underestimate the surprise factor

Sales aside, contests are often intended to create an environment where players support and encourage one another.

However, one of the main challenges is to not pit each of your team members against each other. To keep up the healthy competition, you need to encourage every sales person to work in a collaborative way to reach certain objectives.

This balance is not always easy to achieve, and that’s where the surprise factor comes into play.

First of all, everyone needs to know and truly feel that they have an equal opportunity for success. That’s why it’s highly recommended to distribute the leads wisely and yet maintain the mystery and excitement of the game.

Even though the person who converts the most sales will win the prize, everyone should feel the motivation to participate, learn and, of course, have fun during the process. Think about, for example, implementing a system in which the winning member gets to choose their reward. There are hundreds of ways to customize rewards, taking personal tastes and personality into account.

And there you have it! With these 5 secrets for successful sales contests, you will be able to run a contest that turns your team into a lean, mean sales machine!

To learn more about how Hurrah! Leaderboards can help you exponentially improve your sales contest effectiveness, schedule a demo today!

Implementing a CRM system in an organization has two clear purposes: One: increased actionable data, and Two: insight into successful business processes. With CRM, managers are able to measure and evaluate actions that take place in the sales process and then do something about those actions to increase sales and motivate key behaviors. Here are some changes Sales Managers hope to find when they implement a CRM System:

Stronger Alignment with overall Sales Strategy

When sales, marketing and customer service share a common CRM platform, Sales Managers hope they’ll speak the same language. Departments across the organization would be able to work towards the common sales goals. Having a common CRM platform should improve the successful cohesion between all these groups.

Improved Customer Interactions

Customers respond positively to a personalized experience. CRM platforms have to allow you to quickly find customer information, recall their needs and provide them excellent and efficient service. With improved customer interactions new and repeat sales become easier.

Fast Response to change because of actionable data

Sales Managers gain access to accurate and timely data, and can make changes quickly, except the data isn’t always uploaded correctly, CRM platforms must have an easy and friendly way to enter data, but that’s not always the case.

So, what next?

These purposes are not always easily achieved. Sales Managers face a big challenge when they don’t find or can’t get what they expected from their new implemented CRM platform.

So, how do they really get the most out of their CRM platform? Why are these goals not achieved? Usually Sales Managers come across a wall, and that’s the fact their team is not adapting to the system, it is not entering data regularly, still uses spreadsheets and therefore data in CRM is outdated, departments don’t seem to speak the same language as expected, repeat sales are still hard to achieve, and Managers are still wondering if their CRM platform will have a fast and effective ROI.

The answer is yes! it will. This is where gamification add-ons will help Sales Managers like you finally get the most out of your CRM. The simple fact of adding some Gamification key elements will radically change the way users see CRM, your team will not see it like something that is dull and, at an individual level, pointless, anymore. Rewards and recognition will be key at aligning the goals you have as a Sales Manager to the individual goals of team members and global goals of the organization.

“With proper design, gamification can tackle business process challenges such as creating a culture of continuous improvement, sharing best practices and having process visibility. Furthermore, gamification provides continuous public measurements for process activities which in turn provides timely feedback for both employees and management. Last but not least, gamification can stand as a comprehensive strategy to achieve desired business outcomes.”

Debbie Rea, Global Account Manager from her Whitepaper Gamification for Executives, you can download it here.

The solutions we offer at CRMGamified: Hurrah! Leaderboard and our Motivation Engine will help you in applying these key elements from gamification to get what you expected from your CRM, increase and speed ROI and improve CRM user adoption:

Hurrah! delivers performance data in near real time and displays results in your preferred format: leaderboards, dashboards or dynamic values. You can choose to trigger key events and showcase them. More information on why others have chosen Hurrah! in our “Top 9 reasons to choose Hurrah! Leaderboard”

Our Motivation Engine is an easy to install add-on designed especially for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, aimed at inspiring the key behaviors that drive more sales, generating actual business results, better CRM data quality and CRM user engagement. Learn more about CRMGamified Motivation Engine.

When faced with the decision to buy a modern leaderboard or problems like CRM adoption and engagement, you may wonder, why others have chosen Hurrah! Leaderboard for their organization? Here are the top 9 reasons to choose Hurrah! for your company:

Increase Public Recognition

This is a great way to motivate employees, a fundamental strategy to increase individual and organizational success.

Achieve Company Goals

Employees get a full picture of the company goals and how their actions are going to help achieve those goals, when they see the data displayed on Hurrah!, allowing them to feel the value they bring, increasing engagement and aligning personal goals with the company’s.

Increase CRM Adoption

People are going to want to see their faces up in that screen, to do this, they’ll need to enter information in CRM.

Increasing sales, achieving goals and motivating sales people is the fundamental challenge faced by all sales & marketing organizations.

The Dolphins Management team wanted to do so while also gathering actionable data to use in decision making. They already had a CRM in place and used by Sales, but did not want it to become a stumbling block as they pushed harder and harder to exceed goals.

Vice President of Sales, Nick Forro and his Sales Managers sought an easy to use motivational tool that would drive successful sales behaviors while maintaining an upbeat atmosphere and culture of success.

The challenge then- to achieve higher ticket sales than ever before without forsaking CRM.

Walls, Roller and Forro agreed that a tool to engage and motivate sales people tied to Dynamics CRM would be ideal. They chose Hurrah! Leaderboard®.

I often hear from clients that they are in the midst of their CRM upgrade and they feel it’s best to wait until after deployment to implement gamification and productivity solutions. Of course, I understand that everyone is busy and technology implementations require attention. And while I appreciate that resource and time management are issues, I always hang up the phone wondering why anyone would wait to increase success and revenue!After all what is more important than making more sales? Right now!

CRMGamified’s Motivation Engine & Hurrah! Leaderboard are designed to simply and unobtrusively energize sales and service personnel. Gamification as a productivity solution takes advantage of human nature and our need to climb the ladder of success or at least not live on the bottom rung! Solution implementation can be done quickly and results are seen within days. It’s true. As soon as you reveal individual and group performance, we’re all immediately engaged and begin to focus on the task at hand. The incremental increase in activities adds up to sales and revenue. Its’ that simple.

In addition to immediate success results, it has been my experience that those who deploy a new version of CRM simultaneously with CRMGamified tools have great success throughout the process of introducing a new environment. Two benefits to the organization for the price of one.

Sometimes, we get bogged down in our Things to do list, without looking at the bigger picture, our goals to increase revenue, profitability and grow our business.

About Us

Founded in 2011, and having presence in the US, Canada and Latin America, CRMGamified® provides modern technology to help companies improve sales and service performance by leveraging gamification.

We offer a metrics-driven approach and CRM add-ons to promote behaviors that lead to substantial revenue growth, increased employee engagement, and improved productivity of outbound teams across the globe.